Who are you, AORN? Betty Thomas, RN Editor‘s note: The following article was adapted from the President’s Opening Address to the 18th Annual Congress of the Association of Op- erating Room Nurses, Feb 8-12, 1971 in Las Vegas. Last year in Anaheim one of our nursing leaders asked, “Who are you, AORN?”

What I heard her say was, “Who are you to attempt to establish edu- cational standards and programs for nursing and for nursing allies? Who are you to assume accreditation re- sponsibility for operating room tech- nicians?”

I’ll admit that I’m not so abnormal that such a question didn’t at first make me bristle-it did. But as I thought about it more objectively and in the cool of solitude and aloneness, certain rational answers began to form for me.

Who are you, AORN? According to a little blue pamphlet

called AORN aims, philosophies anal objectives, “The Association of Oper- ating Room Nurses is a national pro- fessional organization for cooperative action by registered nurses for the purpose of improving the quality of operating room nursing.”

Since we have accepted the chal- lenge of improving the quality of op- erating room nursing we not only have a right to move into areas of educational standard-setting and cur- riculum-development for our own specialty, we have an obligation to do so. And who is more qualified?

We are well aware that the Ameri- can Nurses’ Association-our profes- sional organization-speaks for nurs- ing. But ANA cannot speak for with- out first listening to.

As I am sure Dr. Bornemeier (Walter Bornemeier, MD, was key- note speaker at the 1971 Congress. Ed.) will agree, neither can the American Medical Association speak for nursing without first listening to nursing-and of course that is now being done on a very positive and progressive basis.

This year AORN has made strong and persuasive efforts to be heard. With the cooperation of AMA we have had the opportunity to meet with ANA, NLN and five other na- tional nursing organizations to dis- cuss issues of nursing. The catalystic agent bringing us together was AMA’s statement on nursing-particularly Dr. Howard‘s suggestion that we make nurses into doctors or phy- sicians’ assistants.

Previous to that meeting, our Pro- fessional Liasion Committee had met with AMA’s Committee on Nursing, attended AMA’s convention and spoken on the floor of their delegate session. We had also met with repre- sentatives of; the American College of Surgeons.

Who are you?

AORN is an association trying to improve the quality of our nursing specialty through cooperative and concertive efforts; an association try- ing to work in harmony with other related groups for a common and ulti-

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mate goal. The goal is better health care for the people of our nation.

For over 20 years, AORN has worked toward achieving such har- monious relationships. From our very beginning we sought to establish such alliance within our own nursing struc- ture. We will continue to work toward such cooperative effort.

I believe AORN members must also be members of ANA so we can be heard more assuredly.

. Dr. John Hi Knowles from Boston, the onetime controversial nominee for chief of health affairs with HEW, said of his own professional organi- zation AMA, that he believes he can accomplish much more by working from within than he can ever ac- complish by “standing on the outside throwing spitballs.”

I wholeheartedly agree. If we want to change the system

we must do it as a part of that sys- tem.

Of course AORN’s reason for being was the unmet needs of our nursing specialty, operating mom nursing. Granted, some of our needs were unique and they demanded special at- tention just as other nursing special- ties demanded special attention. Total communal activity lumped together with other specialties could not pos- sibly have sufficed.

It is a recognized fact that when children’s needs remain unmet, one of two things happens-submission or rebellion. The same is true for allied groups of individuals. They either give in to pressures and become ex- tinct or they revolt. If their motiva- tion is strong enough they become strong and sometimes great.

In our own country’s history, the events of 1776 are good examples of such occurrences.

The Association of Operating Room Nurses is in a small way, another ex- ample of just such an event.

The needs of operating room nurses were great and unmet and measures to correct those unmet needs resulted in the formation of AORN.

Today AORN is a strong associa- tion-its growth is increasing daily.

We now have almost 13,000 mem- bers with approximately 3,500 new members in this past year. Each year our growth rate doubles that of the year before. This year we added 24 new chapters bringing our total to 180 local AORN chapters.

Who are you?

This year AORN sponsored a pilot seminar to assist operating mom nurses develop professional nursing expertise in areas not traditionally considered our function. The sem- inar’s goal was to assist operating room nurses expand their role-to evaluate the impact of pre and post- operative visits with patients; and to assess the positive and negative con- sequences for both patient and nurse in this role modification.

I believe operating room nursing must move forward with the rest of nursing in its quest for more mean- ingful ro l e r ro l e s of a colleague relationship with the surgeon which demand increased levels of perform- ance.

We as operating room nurses must not become so sensitized that we for- get society is also demanding change from all other nursing specialties. The change is painful to other spe-

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cialties-just as painful in terms of feelings or loss as any trauma OR nurses feel at no longer being the only one who can stand at the mayo, and in effect become an extension of the surgeon.

Other nursing specialties are also sharing their function with allied personnel. The trick is role identity, devebpent and acceptance.

Who are you?

This year AORN also sponsored a seminar on supervisory management to help us improve that area of our function. Even though that program represents nothing new in terms of role expansion, it is one of our func- tions.

Traditionally, operating room su- pervisors have been renowned for their strength in areas of manage- ment and supervision. A little re- search will show that the majority of nurses in top management positions were at orre time operating room su- pervisors. I think that the role of the operating room supervisor, more than any other in the hospital, demands high degrees of management skill. These seminars are designed to assist you obtain that skill or to reassess your level of that skill.

Both of these new education pro- grams-preoperative visits and man- agement-are scheduled into differ- ent geographical areas with AORN chapters helping to sponsor them. That’s 14 new educational seminars coming up this year.

So who are you, AORN? Not only do we seek to add to our

stock of educational programs, but we also plan for an enrichment of our traditional e d u c a t i o n a 1 efforts

through our regional NCE programs. There are. seven of these scheduled this year. In these programs empha- sis can be placed on local needs or total orientation toward improvement of technical skills. Certainly this area of OR nursing demands constant at- tention in order to even remotely keep up with rapidly-increasing de- mand brought on by the industrial revolution in our field.

This year AORN has sought to in- crease our continued good relation- ship with hospital industry. In this area AORN has always been a leader. We have realized the vital importance of industrial contribution to our prac- tice of nursing-we now wish to in- creme our u n d e r s t a n d i n g and strengthen this portion of our team approach to improved quality care.

We believe that together we can help reduce patient costs. Certainly this is one of the most pressing prob- lems facing the health care field to- day. We believe we have an obliga- tion-with industry-to concentrate on this problem. Emphasis of our concern in this area has been given throughout this year, during meet- ing with our exhibitors’ committee.

Who are you? Today there are two areas which

take priority in our thinking and planning. They are: The Association of Operating Room Technicians and the AMA’s position statement on nursing and its relationship to oper- ating room nursing.

Two AORN committees-the Pro- fessional Liasion Committee and the Statement Committee have collabor- ated on resolutions for your consid- eration. I know many of you have done some indepth study on the sub- ject of the physician’s assistants. I

March 1971 37

hope you are prepared to share your thinking with us.

As for the Association of Operating Room Technicians-the function of the technician, like nursing, is also expanding. The position of their as- sociation on the allied health workers scene is also of vital importance. It must have our immediate considera- tion.

AORT is asking itself such ques- tions as: “To whom should we be allied-AORN? ACS? AMA? AHA? Or should we, as a young but strong association, be autonomous? Can we indeed move to establish ourselves as separate and independent?”

Now, AORN is asking, “If AORT does separate entirely, if they de- velop their own national convention with industrial exhibits, if they do indeed increase their publication and become attractive to industry support -what additional burden does this place upon the already strained pa- tient cost factor?

“Also, if these things happen, how long can AORN expect to be con- sidered as an important entity in an advisory capacity for AORT?”

As stated earlier, if needs are left unmet or ignored for any group, one of two things happens-submission or rebellion. And the strongly motivated group rebels and survives and be- comes stronger.

If, on the other hand, needs are met, and understanding and consider- ation are given, then one might ex- pect the strength of a united effort with ultimate benefits for all con- cerned.

Who are you, AORN? An association willing to accept the

challenge of many problems. An as- sociation concerned not only with our own group, but with our fellow workers. An association willing to help establish other groups; to help improve their standards of education and function. Why? Because we know, in the long run our ultimate goal-improved quality care for our patients-is the resultant benefit.

This past year AORN took some big steps toward increased maturity. We had the courage to change di- rection in areas of our administrative structure. We returned to executive leadership by one of our own pro- fessional nurses.

It became evident that for our par- ticular aims and for our particular professional philosophy business or- iented leadership was not the answer. That kind of expertise was not enough- not nearly enough. AORN needed a professionally strong leader who possessed a high degree of man- agement and business skills.

We now have that person as our Executive Director.

Who are you, AORN?

You are the Association of Oper- ating Room Nurses-a group of pro- fessional nurses with courage of con- viction-with courage to change- with the strength to let go of hide- bound traditional functions when those functions are no longer rele- vant. You are an association with the courage to fight for your right to be. You are an association which will be heard because you are nurses whose professional function has relevance and meaning.

And you-we-are nurses who care. i7

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